Written Answers

Thursday 19 October 2000

Scottish Executive

Culture

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to ensure that the National Gallery of Scotland retains the loans of works of art currently belonging to the estate of the Duke of Sutherland.

Rhona Brankin: The future of the paintings on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland is entirely a matter for the heirs of the late Duke of Sutherland.

Education

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the publication in June 2000 of a Charter for Scottish Executive Inspectorates, whether the "departmental" operational charters, specifically the Charter for Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools, will be subject to consultation by interested bodies prior to completion in December 2000.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Charter for Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools will be available in December following discussions with key interested bodies.

Enterprise

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the £25 million to be invested in a development programme for the creative industries over the next five years referred to in Creative Scotland: Shaping the Future will be spent in each of these years and what specific projects will receive funding under this programme.

Henry McLeish: The SE Network operates within an annual planning cycle. Each cluster plan developed by SE so far identifies key strategic objectives for development and anticipates the timescales and resources needed to achieve these objectives. The next stage, as defined in Creative Scotland: Shaping the Future, is to work with industry further to develop specific projects and interventions in the context of the agreed objectives. These are:

  Development of a dynamic flexible business environment

  Expansion and development of the existing talent and skills base

  Development of an environment in which innovation can flourish

  Development of an international reputation for Scotland’s Creative Industries

  To assist in detailed action planning, the SE Network is working with four key industry focus groups in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen. However, from our industry consultation to date several priority projects have emerged. These are:

  Pacific Quay site development

  Dundee Creative Industry Campus

  Market Entry Programme into London and North America.

  Investment will be allocated to these projects in the forthcoming year, subject to the SE Network annual budget allocation process.

Enterprise

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement in Creative Scotland: Shaping the Future that incubation facilities for the development of new ideas and the transfer of ideas across the creative industries sector will be created, what facilities will be developed, where such facilities will be, when they will be established, and how this proposal will be taken forward.

Henry McLeish: The Scottish Enterprise Network has two priority projects which relate directly to the provision of incubator facilities for new and start-up businesses in the creative industries. These are:

  The Pacific Quay development in Glasgow, and:

  The Creative Industries Campus in Dundee.

  SEn is already investing in these projects with the aim of facilitating the right conditions within which the private sector will provide and maintain any incubation facilities.

  In relation to the transfer of ideas across the creative industries, SE has already started the process of developing regional and national networks under the following banners:

  Creativescotland.com (national web resource)

  Creative Edinburgh

  Creative Glasgow

  Creative Aberdeen

  Interactive Tayside.

  The first of these regional networks will be launched on November 13 in Edinburgh. It is through these networks that the transfer and commercialisation of ideas across the creative industries cluster will be encouraged.

Enterprise

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it will give to granting Enterprise Zone status to Rosyth port.

Henry McLeish: The criteria for the creation of Enterprise Zones are a reserved matter. However, the Scottish Executive has no plans at present to consider granting Enterprise Zone status to Rosyth port.

Enterprise

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider granting Enterprise Zone status to other ports and harbours.

Henry McLeish: The criteria for the creation of Enterprise Zones are a reserved matter. However, the Scottish Executive has no plans at present to consider granting Enterprise Zone status to other ports or harbours.

Enterprise

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail, with regard to the proposed development of a centre for the creative industries at Pacific Quay, (a) who will operate the studio; (b) what room for expansion will be available at the proposed site or whether other additional venues are earmarked and, if so, where, and (c) what proposals there are to integrate the site with any possible film theme park venue elsewhere.

Mr Sam Galbraith: No decisions have yet been taken on the proposal for a production studio at Pacific Quay.

Enterprise

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to assist the creative and media industries in distribution and marketing.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Enterprise announced on 20 September a joint initiative to help music and publishing companies reach wider markets through innovative use of technology. The Executive will continue to work with these agencies and others to identify further opportunities in line with the Executive’s cultural strategy and Scottish Enterprise’s strategy for the creative industries.

Film Industry

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been provided by Scottish Screen to create a Scottish film fund and what directions or instructions it has given to Scottish Screen regarding such a fund.

Mr Sam Galbraith: No funding has been provided by Scottish Screen to create a Scottish film fund and no directions or instructions have been given.

Housing

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the announcement on 3 October 2000 by the Financial Services Agency, whether it has any plans to address any economic difficulties faced by homeowners who have been sold endowment mortgages which on maturity will fail to pay the outstanding loan.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Responsibility for the regulation of the mortgage market is a reserved matter, but I understand that the Financial Services Agency is issuing a new consumer factsheet, explaining how endowment holders should take up any complaints with the firm which sold them the endowment and how to take their case to the Ombudsman if the firm’s response is unsatisfactory. It also includes information about how consumers can seek compensation if they feel they were in any way misled at the point of sale and may have lost out financially as a result.

Justice

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the whole time establishment is of the Procurator Fiscal Service in the Glasgow area, broken down by grade and designation.

Colin Boyd QC: Staffing levels for fiscal offices are determined annually under a business planning process which relates resources to anticipated workload and the department’s performance standards. The table below shows the current staff structure for the Glasgow and Strathkelvin Regional office, showing "whole time equivalent" numbers by main grade groups:

  


Senior civil service legal managers


5.0




Principal legal managers


17.1




Procurator Fiscal Deputes


45.9




Precognition Officers


31.0




Administration managers


14.0




Administration and other support 
staff


168.3

Justice

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) vacancies and (b) short-term or temporary contracts currently exist for procurator fiscal deputes in the Glasgow Procurator Fiscal Service.

Colin Boyd QC: (a) In the Glasgow office there are currently two vacancies at depute level out of 46 funded posts. (b) In the Glasgow office there are no legal staff on short-term or temporary contracts.

Justice

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the salary scales for procurator fiscal deputes are enough to attract experienced people to the jobs.

Colin Boyd QC: Yes. The scale to which new entrants are invited was last set from 1 August 1999, and is £18,963 to £34,071. Using this scale, during the last recruitment round 25 new deputes were appointed, including several with appropriate experience in other legal organisations. Over two years 66 deputes have been recruited to fill posts throughout Scotland.

  All pay scales are currently being reviewed in pay negotiations. The need to maintain pay scales which are sufficient to recruit, maintain and motivate staff is the key objective of the department in these negotiations.

Justice

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines are used for issuing a fiscal fine.

Colin Boyd QC: Procurators Fiscal are issued with confidential guidelines regarding the use of fiscal fines as an alternative to prosecution. In general the Procurator Fiscal must first be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to justify prosecution and that a prosecution would otherwise be in the public interest. Thereafter he must consider a number of circumstances including (1) the type of offence, (2) the circumstances of the accused and (3) any other circumstances relevant to the commission of the offence. Specific guidance is given as to the type of offences that may be suitable for a "fiscal fine". Likewise guidance is given as to the circumstances in which a fiscal fine should not be issued.

Residential Care

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many private care homes for the elderly currently exist in (a) Greater Glasgow Health Board area and (b) the rest of Scotland.

Iain Gray: The following table details the number of private nursing homes and private residential care homes for older people as at 31 March 1999.

  

 

Greater Glasgow Health 
Board Area


Rest of Scotland


Scotland




Private Nursing Homes1


77


431


508




Private Residential Care Homes2


22


253


275




Total


99


684


783




  Notes:

  1. Private nursing homes are not specifically designated for older people, although the majority (92.5% at 31 March 1999) of residents are aged over 65.

  The above table excludes a small number of nursing homes (around 30) for which data were not supplied.

  2. Residential care homes are designated as being primarily intended for older people, but it is possible that some residents will be from other client groups.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Holyrood Project

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer how much will be spent on bomb-proofing the new Parliament building.

Sir David Steel: I understand from the Convenor of the HPG that bomb-proofing requires increased performance standards for construction methods used on the new Parliament building, and for materials which must be typically stronger, thicker, or denser than for standard uses. As this is a fundamental aspect of the project brief, and integral to the building design, no cost studies have been carried out for options excluding bomb-proofing, and no accurate cost comparison figures are therefore available.